Bath-Ambience—A Mechatronic System for Assisting the Caregivers of Bedridden People

Abstract

The health of older people is receiving special attention and dedication nowadays, with the aim of increasing their general wellbeing and quality of life. Studies into different aspects of the care of the elderly have found that emphasis should be given to solving problems related to bathing in different situations and environments. In particular, it is important to develop new assistive technologies to streamline and ease the burden of a caregiver’s daily tasks. Generally-speaking, in the case of bedridden patients, bathing is typically carried out manually by a caregiver, using towels, sponges, and a water basin. Nevertheless, this apparently simple task needs some precautions in order to avoid the risk of microbial infections, falls and other injuries. With that in mind, this paper presents the design of a portable washing system, called Bath-Ambience, which enables bedridden patients to be bathed efficiently without having to be moved from their position. This portable system can be installed in different situations, both in a domestic setting, and in specialized institutions, and allows the caregiver to perform the bathing tasks without compromising health and safety, thereby making it possible to offer a comfortable and hygienic procedure to patients, improving their quality of life. This paper presents the design of the portable Bath-Ambience washing system, which provides efficient assistance for bathing bedridden patients without moving them to another place. This system is mainly dedicated for integration a smart home application in to allow bathing everywhere.

Homecare Robotic Systems for Healthcare 4.0: Visions and Enabling Technologies

“…Various functional devices and robots will be designed based on specific functional requirements. For example, the elderly have difficulty in using bathrooms, which can be assisted by robots to increase the quality of life [12]. The current number of professional rehabilitation trainers does not meet the needs of patients' rehabilitation training.…”

A New Methodology for Use by a Single Caregiver to Bathe Bedridden Elderly Persons Using Advanced Mechatronic Systems

“…The next version of the prototype will include a rigorous value analysis and the global cost will be considerably lower. The pressure inside the inflatable area should be set at the time of use and it is related to the surface and the mass of the bedridden person [48]. The simulation of the use of this area by a person with the stipulated mass of 120 kg is presented in Figure 7.…”

“…It is essential to take into account that in a case study, the value lies not only in studying a phenomenon, but also in its context. To be able to generalize the existence of a prior theory is important [48].…”

“…In this study, the EZ-BATHE ® surface [48] was used to validate the physical product of the surface in real environments in care institutions, via usability tests, performed by a single caregiver. Thus, based on the bed bath methodology, a sequence of tests was performed, following a methodology organized in five stages: As a result, we performed five tests; only three were performed by a single caregiver.…”

Mechatronic System for Drying Human Body After Bath

“…Concerning mechatronic/mechanical systems, several aspects have been studied and some solutions have been presented in some domains, such as on the domain of transferring people from a position to another [10] or developing specific systems for assisting bath of bedridden persons [11].…”